Knowing The Word in Genesis 8:1-12, The Flood Subsides

1 But God remembered Noah [when God remembers his covenant, he acts; this is the first time he remembers someone] and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth [we saw this before if 1:2], and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained [similar to what happened when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and the Jordon River], 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month [exactly five months after the start of the flood], the ark came to rest [on a Friday] on the mountains of Ararat. [This is an area not a specific mountain, now part of eastern Turkey, southern Russia, and northwestern Iran.] 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month [a gradual decline over two months]; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month [Wednesday], the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 At the end of forty days Noah [works on a Sunday and] opened the window of the ark [located in the roof/suggesting he could not see the water until this point] that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. [The raven is not only black but unclean (Leviticus 11:15), so no surprise it was on a failed mission.] 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. [The dove is a clean, white animal used for sacrifices that also symbolizes Israel (Hosea 7:11) and the presence of the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus when he comes out of the water.] 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot [a resting place, which is a pun in Hebrew on Noah’s name], and she returned to him to the ark [unlike the raven], for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. [The dove found no Noah (rest) outside the ark, so she returned to the Noah she knew who brought her to himself for rest (Noah). There is tenderness and trust in their relationship, making Noah an archetypal conservationist and an imitator of God.] 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. [The olive tree also symbolizes Israel and was a common tree is Palestine. Plants are now growing again on the earth ready to feed man and animal.] So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore [success].